


Weapon of Light

by tarotsenpai



Category: Final Fantasy XIV
Genre: Gen, Implied/Referenced Abuse, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Implied/Referenced Sex
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-14
Updated: 2019-05-14
Packaged: 2020-03-04 22:29:59
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 927
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18822046
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tarotsenpai/pseuds/tarotsenpai
Summary: That mouth would never again tell him that he was inferior. Those claws would never again dig themselves into his deserving flesh. Those hands would never again demand payment for services rendered. T'rhiki should have been grateful. And yet...





	Weapon of Light

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the FFXIV Writer's Guild's first 69 minute prompt: Weapon!

T'rhiki couldn't run fast enough. The cold moon beat down on him, freezing his bare skin. The glittering topaz sands of the Sagolii Desert sucked at the miqo'te's bare feet and ankles as he tried desperately to flee the scene of the crime.

_What did you do, Fray..._

T'rhiki had woken to find himself standing among a field of corpses. Bodies he had once known. The face of his father, twisted with shock, burned into his eyes. How big the hole that Deathbringer had left as it impaled him. How red his blood was as it seeped into the sands.

That mouth would never again tell him that he was inferior. Those claws would never again dig themselves into his deserving flesh. Those hands would never again demand payment for services rendered. T'rhiki should have been grateful. And yet...

_He was my father, Fray..._

His entire tribe was gone. A victim of genocide in a single day. Not even the children were spared.

As he awoke to the sky and stars stained red, all T'rhiki could do was run. He left Deathbringer stuck in the earth behind him, and hurriedly cast off the armor he had worn. Black as night, and heavy with the number of lives he had taken. Naked, fearful, confused, regretful, he fled.

_They were my family, Fray..._

Sandy winds stung his mismatched eyes as he ran without direction or purpose. The thick sands tugged at his feet and pulled him down to embrace him as T'rhiki coughed and wheezed, desperate to catch his breath. A hand gently touched his bare shoulder.

“I did it to free you, Rhiki,” Fray said, clad in the abyssal armor and leering sword T'rhiki had discarded. T'rhiki slapped his hand away.

“You murdered hundreds of innocents? To free me? How in the hells did you think that would free me?!” Fray looked down, green and blue eyes smoldering.

“Your tribe's sick and twisted tradition is dead,” he replied coldly. “It ends with us. No more need to suffer, and you are no longer bound by their chains.” The hairs on T'rhiki's feline ears and tail stood on end.

“You fool...” T'rhiki trembled and shook. “You godsdamned fool... Everyone is gone...” Fray gently tried to embrace him, but T'rhiki pushed him away. “You made me do this. You used me for this revenge plot. Get away from me.” Fray held his breath, but said nothing in response. T'rhiki stood and continued to run, but this time, instead of running from the grisly sight engraved into his memories, he ran from himself.

He ran from Deathbringer. He ran from Fray.

He wanted nothing more to do with the cursed weapon that used him to take the lives of his tribe.

T'rhiki tried to think about what to do next. He was drained and empty, emotionally and physically, not to mention naked. The residents of Forgotten Springs would no doubt question why the man with fiery red hair and heavy black armor had returned to them frightened and skyclad. He couldn't teleport to anywhere with an inn, let alone an aetheryte, lest he draw unwanted attention. Wherever he would go, T'rhiki would have to walk.

T'rhiki shivered in the cold light of the moon as he continued on. He decided to try to trek to Little Ala Mhigo, and there he would be able to find some stray cloth to cover himself with until he could get to his clothes. His bare feet, covered with scars and calluses, thought little of the sand that gave way to dirt and rocks, and he walked onward like a soulless husk.

He heard not a peep from Fray. Was he really gone? T'rhiki held his hand to his chest. His heart ached a little. Fray had been the only one who supported him unconditionally, and he had said such things to him... T'rhiki shook his head.

He had been used. Just like before. What difference was there between using his body to carry out genocide and using his body for labor? To breed? To accept violence? In the end, he was just a ponze of flesh to be used at others' whims.

Even his own...

It was very early in the morning when he arrived at Little Ala Mhigo. He rummaged around the outskirts for enough cloth to cover his nethers, then felt his aether align with that of the aetheryte located in Ul'dah. T'rhiki felt his troubled mind and thoughts dissipate across the currents, and felt an onze of comfort in traveling across the stream. His body reconvened in front of the great crystal in the aetheryte plaza, and he walked quickly to the inn not far from there. With an embarrassed blush, he gave the innkeep a few gil for a room, and retreated behind the heavy wooden door quickly.

T'rhiki dragged himself to his chest of clothes, and sought the comfort of his favorite nightgown. He cared little for the fact that it was traditionally a woman's nightdress; the fabric was soft and slightly worn, and was his favorite shade of purple. T'rhiki turned around to lay himself in bed, eager for the day to finally be over, when his eyes grew wide and his blood ran cold. His face turned white as he reached out with a shaking hand to touch what couldn't possibly be there. It was impossible. Yet he felt it, frigid and heavy under his trembling, bandaged fingers.

Deathbringer sat propped up against the wall beside the bed, its unblinking eye fixed firmly on T'rhiki's broken soul.

 


End file.
